5 Things + Thrifted or Grifted results

Good Thursday morning! Are you ready to find out which outfit was thrifted?

Okay, I have to admit that, for some reason I want to say, “Ha! Gotcha!” But that doesn’t make any sense since it was never my intent to fool you.

Still, I do feel like the results somewhat justify my claim that, “If you can’t tell the difference, you shouldn’t have to pay for it!” (If you have no clue what I’m talking about, check out yesterday’s Wardrobe Wednesday).

Abbie!!! Be quiet and just tell us already! Okay, okay. Don’t get your knickers in a twist.

Survey says…

Out of the 262 of you who voted (whoa! great job!), 62% of you thought that Outfit A was 100% thrifted. Well, I must inform you that the majority did not have it right this time.

It was B.

And no, I did not intentionally forget to iron the wrinkles out of my shirt or take a blown-out picture in the first option just to make you think it was thrifted. : )

Check out the price difference! And that first outfit wasn’t even that expensive! It’s just so easy to fork over a wad of cash without even realizing how much you’re paying for one outfit.

That was fun! How about we do it again next week? I promise I’ll iron both of my outfits this time.

Oh, and here are 5 things I’m wearing on my fingernails (yes, all at once):

All of these shades are by ULTA: 1) Concrete Evidence, 2) Sun-Sational, 3) Moody Blues (hard to tell in this pic but actually a super-deep purple), 4) Vintage Violet, 5) Mint Condition.

You might have noticed that I pretty much always have my nails painted. That did NOT used to be the case (in fact I have you guys to thank you for it since it’s because I don’t want to expose you to my naturally chippy nails and horrible cuticles that I make the effort to paint them). But I’ve discovered that I really like it. I have pathetic nails. The top layer peels, they are extremely flimsy (I’m probably calcium-deficient, but they didn’t do much better when I was on prenatal vitamins), and I can’t get them long at. all.

So, I had pretty much reconciled myself to having embarrassingly ugly nails for the rest of my life (except for the occasional birthday or girls’ night mani). But I’ve discovered that, with a little bit of effort (I usually give them a coat in between bites of breakfast and then another one at lunch), I can have pretty nails as long as I keep them very short and painted.

Another bonus, funky colors are very in right now. And while I don’t care that much about being “in,” I do like the fact that it’s easy to find that perfect shade of blue-green that just makes me smile every time I see my hands (that would be #5).

So, in the grand scheme of things, are attractive nails that important? No. But they are a nice little mood/confidence booster if you ever want an instant pick-me-up.

P.S. I would welcome any tips you have on nail-strengthening/conditioning. Mine really are bad.

P.P.S. I really am going to wear my nails like this for the next several days a) because I like them, b) because I want to see how many weird looks I can get from people, and c) because I am going to a 2 day exercising extravaganza starting Saturday (more on that later), and only a crazy person would do that, so it’s seem kind of fitting to be wearing crazy-person nails too. : )

P.P.P.S. ULTA did not pay me to write this post (though I wouldn’t have objected if they had!), but buying 6 bottles of polish did get me two AWESOME gifts-with-purchase that I’m going to be sharing with you guys next week on Wardrobe Wednesday. Be sure to stay tuned!

I know this is kind of an old post, but I just happened across your blog today, via the Pleated Poppy link-up! As for the nails, mine have been chippy and awful for years, but for the last 6-8 months I have been painting them on a regular basis, and they are slowly but surely improving. My right hand isn’t in great shape (one nail just broke this morning, boo), but my left hand of nails is now super long and strong! I use CND/Creative Nail Design’s base coat called “stickey” and I use Seche Vite as my top coat. SV makes your nails really hard and glossy however it does contain toluene, which is kind of bad for you. I also take Glucosamine every day (which can be purchased at any pharmacy) and I think that has also helped my nail and hair growth/strength. It’s also really good for your joints. Lastly, when I paint my nails, I “wrap” the tips, which is basically when you put a little stripe of polish on the under-side of your nails to prevent tip-wear and chipping. I believe that has helped quite a bit as well. Hope these ideas help! Keep up the fun colors! My favorite on your mani is that blue-green color as well . PS – I get most of my nail polish on Ebay, as it’s way cheaper than getting it at beauty supply stores. Take care and good luck!

Hi there this is my first time commenting and have to say I love your blog! As far as nails go, I have horrible nails too. They split, peel, thick cuticles, etc. However, I have heard that the condition of your cuticles can affect the condition of your nails. So I have been using a really great product by Sally Hansen (not sure if you can get that in the US) called Cuticle Massage Cream with Apricot Oil. Seems to be working so far.

Also, had to show my 12 year old daughter the picture of your nails. She loved it!!! She does the same thing. In fact right now she has five different shades of purple on her finger nails, and blue and green toe nails!

PS. I finally figured out how to do the hair twist that you did a tutorial on and loved it. Got lot’s of compliments!

Hilarious! I love your story about your nails…mainly b/c I just got to the same point myself. Having a DIY blog where your (mine not yours) ugly nails are photo’d on digital macro is just NOT COOL (in a very non trendy sense of the word)! In fact – I had noticed your vibrant nail polishes in previous posts and funny enough, it had inspired me to pick up some funky colors at my beauty supplier just today. When Hubby saw them he asked…”do you actually wear colors like that?” Ha! Well, I will be now…three cheers for prettier nails!

Sad, but true…and unlikely to change for quite some time. People keep talking about hoping the fall weather comes quickly (and by people, I mean Texans who should know better), and I keep thinking, “Do you not remember that it was 90 degrees a few days before Thanksgiving last year, people? Buckle down and sweat it out, folks, because I think we got a ways to go).

I do a lot of hand-rinsing (though we have a dishwasher) and scrubbing and such. (Not as much cleaning as I should do lately…she says as she stairs at the unmatched socks strewn about her living room). And I really should wear gloves…but I never remember to. I even bought a super-cute pair at Ross, but they’re still sitting under my kitchen sink.

How funny! I had no idea I was in style with my crazy nails! And if you go to ULTA soon, all you have to do is buy 3 colors and then you can choose a 13-piece gift-set of their makeup and brushes, and it’s actually very good stuff. I was super impressed. Plus it comes with a decent (not great) makeup bag that’s good for at least a couple of month’s use. You can stack it with a $3.50 off $10 too to make it an even better deal. I got two and am going to give one away on the blog! It’s one of the best gifts with purchase I’ve run across especially considering you only have to buy $17.50 (- 3.50 with the coupon) to get it!Hope that made sense (you can also do it online…which is where you can find the coupon too).

You got me on the outfits…haha! I do love the nails. I saw the multi-colored look in a magazine recently and LOVED it…..gotta get to ULTA to get some fab colors Keep rockin those short nails. I’m in the same boat!

I love comments so much I'd actually consider making them my seventh kid if I could. Seriously. Love. And I read every single one and will do my darndest to respond, especially if you have a question. So, yeah. Comment away! I'm listening! Cancel reply

Connect with M is for Mama

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address:

Hi, I’m Abbie, and M is for Mama is an unapologetic ode to messy, maddening, miraculous motherhood. It’s also where I share my favorite non-M-related passions–like thrifting, endless furniture and knickknack rearranging, exercising, baking yummy treats, putting together ridiculously cheap outfits, hot-glue crafting, and typing out my deep (and not-so-deep) thoughts…almost always with one of my 5 children on or near me. I love Jesus, good grammar, and ho-cho (which I don’t get to drink nearly as often as I’d like in the muggy, pine tree forests of East Texas). (I also love parentheses). (Can you tell?). I hope you’ll stick around and share what you love too! Read more here.